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66th Congress,) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, j Report 
2d Session. J 1 No. 536. 



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TO PUNISH OFFENSES AGAINST THE EXISTENCE OF THE 
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



January 12, 1920. — Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed. 

!!!!:::::: : "» **>■ Gon<? yes*, ]\t>u* c , 

I: Mr. Graham of Pennsylvania, from the .Committee on the Judiciary, 

submitted the following 

II REPORT. 

[To accompany H. R. 11430.] 

The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill 
| (H. R. 11430) entitled "An act to punish offenses against the exist- 
! ence of the Government of the United States, and for other purposes," 
I having considered the same, and after making a number of changes, 
verbal corrections, and alterations of the text, amended the same 
[ by striking out all after the enacting clause and inserting the bill as 
thus corrected, altered, and perfected, do recommend that the amend- 
ment be adopted and that the bill as thus amended do pass. The 
[ amendment is as follows: 

AMENDMENT. 

That whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any insurrection or rebellion 
against the United States or the authority or laves thereof, or whoever sets on foot or 
I assists or engages in the use of force, or violence, with intent to destroy or cause to 
} be destroyed or change or cause to be changed, or to overthrow or cause to be over- 
\ thrown, the Government of the United States, and the death of any person or persons 
i is caused or results directly therefrom, shall be guilty of a felony, and on conviction 
> shall be punished by death or shall be imprisoned not more than twenty years or 
• fined not more than $20,000, or both, and shall forever be debarred from holding 
[ office under the United States: Provided, however, That the death penalty shall not 
be imposed unless recommended in the verdict of the jury. If two or more persons 
\ conspire to commit any offense defined in this section, they shall each be subject to 
! the punishment provided in this section for such offense. 

Sec. 2. Whoever incites or sets on foot or assists or engages in the use of force or 
| violence with intent to destroy or cause to be destroyed or change or cause to be 
| changed or to overthrow or cause to be overthrown the Government of the United 
I States, and death does not result, shall, on conviction, be imprisoned not more than 
twenty years or fined not more than $20,000. or both. If two or more persons conspire 
I to commit any offense def'ned in this section, they shall each be subject to the pun- 
ishment provided in this section for such o Tense. 

Sec. 3. That no person shall orally or by writing, printing, or the use of any sign, 
i symbol, picture, caricature or otherwise teach, incite, advocate, propose, or advise, 



1 

2 TO PUNISH OFFENSES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. 

or aid, abet, or encourage forcible resistance to or forcible destruction of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, its Constitution, laws, and authority, or the govern- 
ments of the several States, all or unj of them, or the existence of constituted govern- 
ment generally, or orally or by writing, printing, or the use of any sign, symbol, 
picture, caricature, or otherwise teach, incite, advocate, propose, or advise, aid, abet, 
encourage, or defend the destruction of human life or the injury of any human being 
or the injury or destruction of public or private property as a means of changing the 
Constitution, laws, or Government of the United States or defeating the authority 
thereof. 

Sec 4. That no person shall write or knowingly print, publish, edit, issue, circu- 
late, distribute, transport by express or otherwise, display, or sell any book, pam- 
phlet, newspaper, document, handbill, poster, or printed, written, or pictorial matter 
of any kind or form wherein or whereby the overthrow or change of the Government of 
the United States or the Constitution, laws, and authority thereof. by force or violence or 
kind or form wherein or whereby the overthrow or change of the Government of the 
United States or the Constitution, laws, and authority thereof by force or violence or 
by levying war against the same or by resistance to or rebellion against the execution 
of any* law of the United States by force or violence is incited, suggested, taught, 
advocated, or advised. 

Sec. 5. That no person shall display or exhibit at any meeting or parade, or in any 
other place, any red flag or banner as a symbol of anarchy, or of any of the purposes 
forbidden in this act, and the display or exhibition of such a flag or banner in any 
meeting or parade shall be prima facie evidence that it is so displayed and exhibited 
as such svmbol, and no person shall display or exhibit at any meeting, gathering, or 
parade, or in any other public place, any flag, banner, emblem, picture, motto, or 
device which tends to incite or indicates a purpose to overthrow, by violence or by 
physical injury to person or property, the Government of the United States, or all 
government, or to overthrow, change, or defeat the Constitution of the United States 
and the laws and authority thereof. 

Sec 6. That every book, magazine, newspaper, document, handbill, poster, or 
written, pictorial, or printed matter, memorandum, sign, symbol, or communication 
of any form wherein or whereby the overthrow of the Government of the United 
States by force or violence, or resistance to or rebellion against the authority of the 
Government or the overthrow, change, or defeat of the Constitution of the United 
States or the laws or authority thereof by force or violence is advocated, advised, or 
incited, or wherein or whereby the use of force or violence or physical injury to or 
the seizure or destruction of persons or property is advocated, advised, defended, or 
incited as a means toward the accomplishment of industrial, economic, social, or 
political change, or wherein or whereby an appeal is made to racial prejudice the 
intended or probable result of which appeal is to cause rioting or the resort to force 
and violence within the United States or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 
is hereby declared to be nonmailable, and the same shall not be deposited in any 
post office for mailing or be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any pest ofhee 
or by any letter carrier: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as 
to authorize anv person other than an employee of the Dead Letter Office, duly author- 
ized thereto, or other person, upon a search warrant authorized by law, to open any 
letter not addressed to himself. . 

Sec 7. That no person shall import or cause to be imported into the united States, 
or any piace subject to its jurisdiction, any matter declared in this act to be nonmail- 
able and not transportable, or to transport or cause to be transported any such matter 
from one State into another or into any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United 

States. . .. , _, . 

Sec 8. That no person shall knowingly use or attempt to use the mails or the Fostal 
Service of the United States, or knowingly transport or attempt to transport by ex- 
press or otherwise, by public or private conveyance, any matter declared by sections 
6 and 7 of this act to be nonmailable and not transportable. 

Sec 9. That any association, gathering, assembly, society, or corporation which 
seeks directly or indirectly by force or violence, or by injury to or destruction of 
human beings, or public or private property, to bring about a change in the Consti- 
tution or laws or authority of the Government of the United States, or of any State 
thereof, or of all forms of organized government, or which teaches, advises, proposes, 
threatens or defends the unlawful use of force or violence in any form to bring about 
:m\ such' result, c* which attempts to prosecute or pursue such purpose, is hereby 

declared to be unlawful. . 

Sbc lo T i Kl , Q0 person shall acl as an officer oi any such unlawful association, or 
knowing the object, purpose, teaching, or doctrines of such unlawful association, 
become a member thereof or become affiliated therewrth. or continue to be a member 

JAN 2^" 1923 



^6 TO PUNISH OFFENSES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. 3 

thereof or affiliated therewith, or contribute any money or other thing of value thereto 

' or to anyone for its use, or rent any room, building, or place for the use of said unlawful 

association, or permit the occupation by such unlawful association or any committee 

or branch thereof of any room, building, or other place under his ownership or control. 

Sec 11. That the giving, loaning, or promising of anything of value to any such 
unlawful association shall constitute affiliation with such unlawful association, and 
the giving, loaning, or promising of anything of value to any person or partnership or 
unlawful association engaged in advertising, teaching, advocating, or defending any 
of the things the teaching, advocacy, or defense of which is forbidden in this act shall 
be prima facie evidence of teaching, advocating, or defending said forbidden things 
against the person so giving, promising or loaning anything of value as aforesaid. 

Sec. 12. Any alien convicted under any of the provisions of this act after serving 
his sentence shall be taken into custody and be deported under the immigration laws 
of the United States then in force. Any person convicted under this act who has 
declared his intentions of becoming a citizen but has not been naturalized shall be 
forever ineligible to citizenship, and it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to 
institute proceedings to cause his petition and declaration of intention to be dis- 
missed and annulled and all court proceedings in his case quashed and to furnish to 
the Secretary of Labor such data as to enable him to cause such person to be deported 
under the immigration laws of the United States then in force. The conviction of 
any person who is a naturalized citizen of the United States of any of the things for- 
bidden in this act shall be sufficient to authorize the cancellation of his or her cer- 
tificate of naturalization in the manner provided by the naturalization laws of the 
United States then in force. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to institute 
proceedings and conduct the same to a final judgment immediately after conviction 
and sentence of the naturalized citizen aforesaid. Every alien deported under this 
act is hereby forbidden to again enter the United States or any Territory or possession 
thereof. It' shall be the duty of the Attorney General of the United States to enforce 
this provision against all deported aliens returning to the United States as aforesaid. 

Sec. 13. That in any investigation or prosecution for any of the offenses specified in 
this act no person shall be excused from attending or testifying or deposing, or from pro- 
ducing any book, paper, document, or other evidence on the ground that the testi- 
mony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him may ter d to incriminate 
him or subject him to penalty of forfeiture; but no natural person shall be prosecuted 
or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, 
or thing as to which in obedience to a subpoena and under oath he mav so testify, or 
in obedience to a subpoena shall produce evidence! documentary or otherwise. But 
no person shall be exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in 
so testifying. 

Sec 14. That if any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of this act shall for any 
reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judg- 
ment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined 
in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, or part thereof directly involved 
in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. 

Sec 15. That section 5334 of the Revised Statutes, section 4, act of March 4, 1909 
(Thirty-fifth volume, Statutes at Large, page 1088), be, and the same is hereby, 
repealed. Any offenses heretofore committed in violation of said section 5334 and 
all cases pending thereunder may be prosecuted and punished as therein provided, 
in the same manner and with the same effect as if this section had not been enacted. 

Sec 16. That any person convicted of violating any of the provisions contained in 
any of the sections of this act, except sections 1 and- 2, shall be punished by being 
imprisoned for not more than twenty years or fined not more than $20,000. either or 
both. And any citizen of the United States convicted under this act shall be forever 
debarred from voting thereafter and holding any office of profit, honor, or trust under 
the United States. 

A large number of bills were introduced at the present Congress 
for the purpose of punishing anarchy, sedition, the teaching, advising, 
and inciting to the use of violence and force to overthrow the Gov- 
ernment of the United States and the Constitution and laws thereof, 
all of which, while differing widely as between themselves, contained 
valuable provisions, but no one of them covered the whole ground. 
All of the bills were referred to a special subcommittee for the pur- 
pose of considering them and either selecting one or framing a new 
bill which might be recommended as furnishing a remedy full and 



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4 TO PUNISH OFFEXSES AGAIXST THE GOVERNMENT. 

comprehensive for the present existing evil. The committee con- 
sisted of Messrs. Husted, of New York; Gard. of Ohio; and Graham, 
of Pennsylvania. 

The v considered the following bills : 

H. R. 11281, introduced by Mr. Begg, of Ohio. 

11277, introduced by Mr. Hicks, of New York. 

11231, introduced by Mr. Raker, of California. 

11089, introduced by Mr. Siegel, of New York. 

10235, introduced by Mr. Blanton, of Texas. 

10514, introduced by Mr. Summers, of Washington. 

10618, introduced by Mr. Hadley, of Washington. 

10650, introduced by Mr. Davey, of Ohio. 

10379, introduced by Mr. Byrnes, of South Carolina. 

10736, introduced by Mr. Kellev, of Michigan. 

10698, introduced by Mr. Foster, of Ohio. 
R. 11117, introduced by Mr. Raker, of California. 
R. 10210, introduced by Mr. MacGregor, of New York. 
Also two other bills introduced bv members of the subcommittee, 
one by Mr. Husted, of New York (H. R. 11332), and the other by 
Mr. Graham, of Pennsylvania, being the one adopted by the Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary and the subject of this report. 

It is a composite bill, which freely took from the bills considered, 
rearranging the subjects and adding new matter. 

Mr. Davey, of Ohio, deserves great credit for the time, labor, and 
money bestowed on this subject. He at great personal expense 
communicated with every newspaper in the United States and 
further by writing to a multitude of people evoked and crystallized 
public opinion and centralized public thought upon this subject. He 
received requests from chambers of commerce all over the United 
States, societies and organizations, including the American Legion, 
asking for the speedy enactment of laws to protect the country from 
the present menace. 

The American Legion was represented before the general committee 
by counsel, John Thomas Taylor, Esq., who urged speedy legislation 
and expressed approval in a general way of the bill H. R. 11430 under 
consideration at the time. 

The attack upon a high official of the United States for doing this 
duty fearlessly; the shooting down on the highway of some of our 
brave soldiers for their avowed adherence to law and order and the 
preservation of our Government Constitution and laws ; and numerous 
other instances of outrage by force and violence aimed at the existence 
of our institutions by aliens and others, including some of our own 
citizens, convince us all that legislation is needed, and that right 
speedily. It behooves the Congress to quickly respond to the 
vigorous call for legislation coming from every part of the country 
because of the perpetration of these outrages and also because of the 
revelations brought home to us by recent investigations showing the 
vigor and extent of the pernicious and dangerous teachings of aliens 
and others who would destroy our Government by force; destroy all 
government by force and create a state of anarchy. The request of 
the Attorney General who has asked for legislation should be answered 
without delay. 

In this laud of ours where our forefathers set up a Government of 
the people, by the people, and for the people, upon the corner stone 



TO PUNISH OFFENSES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. 

of " the rule of the majority," there is and can be no excuse for the 
use of force and violence to effect changes in our Constitution and 
laws. "There is no right of revolution where the people have the 
right to vote." Especially is there no excuse for the alien, coming 
from lands of oppression and tyranny to this land of freedom, to 
perform as the apostle of assassination, murder, and other crimes, 
and become the teacher of a foreign propaganda of force and violence. 

The right of free speech and a free press will always be maintained 
inviolate. The advocacy of any change by lawful means through 
the will and votes of a majority is still open to everyone. When- 
ever a legal majority of our people vote for a change, that change 
will be brought about. 

A government incapable of defending its own life from force and 
violence, and preserving law and order and the lives of its people, 
and which is left unclothed with power, adequate and complete, to 
crush 'out this spirit of force, violence, and destruction, and make 
America safe for our people, is not worthy of the name of government. 

This bill (H. f£. 11430), in addition to the aid given in the immigra- 
tion laws, is designed, as its title indicates, to clothe our Government 
with adequate power and furnish it with remedies to enable it to 
cope with the enormous evil confronting us. While seeking to do 
this effectually, the bill is confined to the restraint and punishment 
of the use of force and violence and leaves "free speech" and a 
"free press" untrameled and the right to advocate or teach any 
reform or change by peaceful and lawful methods without a limitation. 

THE BILL. 

Section 1 is intended to give the Federal courts a right to inflict 
the death penalty in cases where murder is the result of the use of 
force and violence. If a man is tried and convicted in a State 
court he may be sentenced to death for murder or killing, in perpe- 
tration of a felony. Why should not the Federal courts have the 
same power? They have no such power now. This section does 
not increase the penalties, or create a new punishment. By the 
enactment into law of this section the Federal courts will be pos- 
sessed of this needed power. The crimes contemplated therein are 
national ones; the combinations, associations, and groups of the men 
and women who seek to destroy our Government are scattered all 
over the land. These crimes in their ramifications are Nation wide. 
Surely the Federal courts should have power to take jurisdiction of 
the whole case and punish as fully as any State court could punish. 
This does not impose the death penalty as a new punishment. It 
only gives the Federal court equal power with the State court to 
inflict it. 

Without this section the Federal courts would be powerless to 
impose the death penalty where the outrage involved the death of 
human beings. 

We would refer for illustration to a recent event in which a bomb 
was exploded at the home of a high official of the Government. True, 
the miscreant Was self-executed, but suppose he had lived and his 
dastardly work had caused the death of the official or some member 
of his family; without section 1 the Federal courts could not try him 



6 TO PUNISH OFFENSES AGAINST THE GOVEKNMENT. 

for killing but only for the outrage. The court of the District of 
Columbia only could try him for the felony of murder and punish 
him accordingly, but if section 1 becomes the law and such a case 
arises hereafter, the perpetrator could be tried in the Federal court 
and if found guilty could be sentenced to death, a punishment richly 
deserved. 

There are reasons why the Federal courts should have jurisdiction of 
the whole subject. Their subpoena runs throughout the land in crim- 
inal cases, while the State court can only summon within the limits 
of the State's territory. Depositions are not permissible, for the 
accused must be confronted face to face by the witnesses. The 
offense being against the existence of the Federal Government and 
the evil being national in its extent and scope, the prosecution ought 
to be backed up l>y the powerful national agencies for the suppres- 
sion of such crimes. The trial ought to be in the Nation's courts, 
with power to punish equally as great as the power possessed by the 
States' courts. This section 1 will secure adequate punishment, 
whether the State court acquires jurisdiction or the Federal court 
does. 

The death penalty may not be inflicted in any case unless the jury 
in the case shall recommend that it should be imposed. 

A conspiracy clause is added to cover two or more persons con- 
spiring to commit the acts or any of them prohibited in this section. 

Section 2 provides for adequate pubishraent, when death is not 
caused or results directly from the doing of the things prohibited in 
the section. This section also has a conspiracy clause. A separate 
conspiracy section was in the original bill but it was stricken out and 
the bill shortened and the same result reached by the addition to 
each section of a short paragraph covering conspiracy. 

Section 3 forbids the teaching, advocating, etc., of the use of force 
or violence to change, overthrow, or destroy the Government of the 
United States or the Constitution or the laws thereof. 

Section 4 makes it a crime to write, print, etc., publish, issue, 
circulate, distribute, or transport books, pamphlets, etc., containing 
teachings, etc., described in section 3. 

Section 5. The use of a red flag or banner is forbidden at parades 
and meetings, the fact of use is made prima facie evidence, of use 
for an unlawful purpose. And in addition no person shall exhibit 
any flag, banner, symbol or device which tends to incite, etc., to force 
or violence in order to effect a change in Government, etc. "Whether 
or not the flag, banner, or device incites to violence is for the determi- 
nation of a jury. 

Section 6 deals with making all such unlawful books, magazines. 
and literature unmailable. 

Section 7 forbids importation, transportation, etc., of all such 
unlawful literature. 

Section S makes the person who uses the mails for such unlawful 
literature, or transports the same, Liable to punishment. 

Sections !), 10, and 11 cover unlawful associations and officers, 
members, and persons affiliated therewith. They also cover the 
ing, loaning, or promising money or anything of value for the use 
of such unlawful associations or for the use of any person engaged 
in the work of violating the provisions of the act, and also punishes 
the renting or granting the use of any building or place to any such 



TO PUNISH OFFENSES AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT. 7 

unlawful association, committee, or branch thereof. These sections 
cover gatherings, societies, or associations, their officers and mem- 
bers, but would also reach out to punish the advocates who remain 
in the background and furnish the "sinews of war." The inactive 
contributor is a highly dangerous element. Without his gifts of 
money and loans the movements would be weak indeed. 

Section 12 makes any alien, or person who has declared his inten- 
tions of becoming a citizen, after conviction and after serving his 
sentence for any offense covered by this act, subject to deportation. 
A naturalized citizen is made subject to cancellation of his naturaliza- 
tion. 

This section forbids any person deported under the act ever to 
return, and makes him liable to punishment if he does return. 

Section 13 forces everyone to testify or produce documents, etc., 
but relieves from prosecution the person who testifies in obedience 
to a subpoena or produces in response to a subpoena duces tecum 
papers or documents, except for perjury committed in so testifying. 

Section 14 provides against declaring the whole act unconstitu- 
tional because some part of the act may be so declared. 

Section 15 declares the repeal of section 5334 of the Revised 
Statutes. 

Section 16 provides sentence for offenses other than those defined 
in sections 1 and 2 of the act. It also provides that any citizen who 
is convicted under the act shall be disfranchised and debarred from 
holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States. 

The whole bill is drawn along the line of punishing the use of force 
and violence exclusively, and is a comprehensive law to enable the 
Government to preserve its own existence and the Constitution and 
laws of the United States and the governments of the several States. 
There is wide latitude with regard to punishment. The sentence can 
be made to fit the crime under all of its circumstances; and the range 
of punishment is so very wide (in imprisonment, from nothing up to 
•20 yeais; and in fining, from nothing up to $20,000) that there need 
be no injustice or unreasonable punishment imposed. 

The life of the Nation is threatened to-day, the security and safety 
of our citizens is imperiled, and it is firmly believed that a strong 
remedy is demanded by our people — and this bill furnishes such a 
law as will, we believe, satisfy the country and enable the authorities 
to grapple with the growing evil in our midst. 

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